Conference confirms patent information as core element of the patent system

"Many actors of the patent system focus their attention on the patent granting process. At the EPO, however, we treat patent information with an equal level of priority", said EPO President, Benoît Battistelli.

Opening the 22nd EPO Patent Information Conference, which took place in Hamburg on 6 to 8 November 2012, Mr Battistelli emphasised that patent information was a core element of the patent system, highlighting recent developments in machine translation and the big-impact Cooperative Patent Classification project, which will enter into force in the new year.

Addressing some 450 delegates, one of the largest attendances ever registered at a patent information conference in Europe, the EPO President said, "We can say today that we are witnessing a dramatic improvement of access to patent information and innovative technologies."

Jointly organised with the German Patent and Trade Mark Office (DPMA), the Conference addressed a number of important topics, including progress in international patent classification and documentation techniques. Moreover, commercial patent information providers offered an insight on their range of services, providing further evidence of the rapidly growing importance of their business for the expanding global technology market.